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UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE INTERNATIONAL EXAMINATIONSGeneral Certificate of Education Ordinary Level

ENGLISH LANGUAGE 1123/21 

Paper 2 Reading For Examination from 2011

SPECIMEN 2 INSERT

1 hour 45 minutes

READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS FIRST

This insert contains the two reading passages.

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© UCLES 2010 1123/21/SI/11

Passage 1 – Studying Abroad

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Nowadays it’s a small world. A flick of the television switch shows us images of eventshappening thousands of miles away, some of them happy and, unfortunately, some of themsad. Modern tourists are able to soak up the new experiences offered by foreign travel,sometimes for no other reason than curiosity to explore foreign places. One consequence of this new perception of the planet has been an increase in the number of students travelling

abroad to study.

Students who travel to another country to study derive many benefits. Living overseas givesyoung people the chance to gain information about another culture and way of life; finding outabout ordinary things like clothes, food, or even just a different climate can be exhilarating.Then there’s the chance not only to learn about but also to participate in another culture, for example, in festivals or celebrations which were before unknown to you – imagine watchingthe liveliness of, say, Chinese New Year for the first time! Moreover, living abroad teachesyoung people a healthy tolerance of others, and that we are sisters and brothers, not rivals.Despite the homesickness which might happen when studying abroad, new friends can bemade, often with other students who are just as homesick for their own country as you are for yours. Some young people may travel overseas to study in a country where the main

language spoken is not their own, giving them the valuable opportunity to learn a newlanguage at first hand, much easier than learning it from a textbook.

Overseas students are sometimes able to study subjects which are unavailable in their owncountry. Indeed, that is often the main motivation for going overseas to study. Thus they arebringing knowledge and a level of expertise home with them which would not otherwise haveexisted there; the engineers, doctors and teachers, for example, of many countries studiedabroad. On their return, they can contribute to the improvement of the living standards in their country and local community. Increased levels of maturity are usually noticed by parents of overseas students when they return – the shy, dependent teenager had been transformed intoa confident, self-assured adult, better able to cope with the practicalities of modern living. Thecaterpillar has become a butterfly! Often those who have studied abroad feel a sense of 

personal satisfaction that they have responded to a challenge, that they have somehowpassed a test they set themselves.

But there are disadvantages in studying overseas, many of these concerned with cost. Thecourse studied may be more expensive than a course of study at home, often causingfinancial hardship to parents. Whereas some students are able to keep down the costs to their parents by staying at home, this is clearly not possible in a foreign setting, and studentaccommodation can be expensive. In addition, return trips home are often prohibitivelyexpensive. Some overseas students study an accelerated course, by cramming, say, threeyears of study into two years; such pressure can have an adverse effect on health. Ironically,the intensity of such study deprives the students of the opportunity to experience a newculture, which was one of the advantages they probably anticipated when embarking on the

course of study in the first place. Some overseas students become very homesick, missingparents, siblings, friends, the old way of life. Despite their best efforts to fit into a new culturalsetting, they often find it impossible to do so. These painful feelings are intensified by theknowledge that return trips home can occur perhaps only annually, if at all.

Some people argue that overseas study deprives the home country of its best talent – the so-called ‘brain-drain’; the truth is that some students will never return to their home country,because they get the irresistible offer of a good job in the country of their studies. Another downside of studying abroad – for the families of the students at least – is that students maysettle immediately in the foreign country and not wish to return home. Others may meet afuture spouse in their chosen country of study, and marry and settle there.

Whatever way we look at it, it seems that studying overseas will always be an attractive option

for some young people. This has indubitably been made easier by increased access to a widerange of travel, particularly by air. There is every reason to think that, given our unprecedented affluence, the attraction of studying overseas is likely to increase.

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© UCLES 2010 1123/21/SI/11

Passage 2

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(Ms Ramotswe is a detective who has discovered that Mr Moretsi has tried to trick aninsurance company into paying him compensation for an accident which never happened.)

Ms Ramotswe set off in her van to confront Mr Moretsi. The day had heated up and now, atnoon, it was very hot. In a few months’ time it would be impossible at midday and she would

hate to have to travel any distance. As she drove, all around her was nothing – just emptybush, with nothing but some cattle and the occasional windmill bringing up a trickle of water for them.

She was half an hour away from home when the snake shot across the road. The first shesaw of it was when its body was about half way out onto the road - dart of green against theblack tar; and then she was upon it, and the snake was beneath the van. She drew in her breath and slowed the car. Where was the snake? Had it succeeded in crossing the road, or had the van hit it? She stopped at the edge of the road, and looked in the mirror. There wasno sign of the snake. She drummed her fingers lightly against the steering wheel. Perhaps ithad been too quick to be seen; these snakes could move with astonishing speed. But hadn’tshe looked almost immediately? No, the snake was in the van somewhere, in the works or 

under a seat perhaps. In any case, it was far too big a snake to disappear just like that. Shehad heard of people dying at the wheel, bitten by snakes that had been caught up in the pipesand rods that run under a car.

She felt a sudden urge to leave the van. She opened the door, hesitantly at first, but thenthrew it back and leaped out to stand, panting, beside the vehicle. There was a snake insidethe van, she was now sure of that. And what sort of snake was it? It had been green, as far asshe remembered, which meant at least it wasn’t a black mamba. She knew that greenmambas existed, but she knew that they were very restricted in their global distribution andthey were certainly not to be found in any part of her country. It was more likely to be a cobra,she thought, because it was large and she could think of no other green snake that long. Likecobras, mambas were venomous, but they were tree-dwelling snakes, and they did not like

sparse thorn bush.

She stood quite still. The snake could strike if she went any closer, or it could by now haveinsinuated itself into the van and settled under her seat. She bent forward and tried to lookunder the van, but she could not get low enough without going on her hands and knees. If shedid that, and if the snake should move, would she be able to get away quickly enough?

She was aware that a passing car had stopped. She explained to the driver about the snake,and he got out of his car and approached the van gingerly. Then, leaning through the van’sopen window, he reached for the lever which released the bonnet. Ms Ramotswe peeredintently over his shoulder, ready to flee at the first sign of the snake. The man suddenly froze.‘Don’t make any sudden movements,’ he said very softly. ‘There it is. Look.’ She peered into

the darkness of the engine space. For a few moments she could make out nothing unusual,but then the snake moved slightly and she saw it: a cobra, twined about the engine, its headmoving slowly from left to right.

The man told her to get into the cab and start the engine. Moving as slowly as she could, sheeased herself into the driving seat and turned the key. The engine came to life immediately.‘Press the accelerator!’ yelled the man. ‘Race the engine!’ She did as she was told and theengine roared throatily. ‘You can come out,’ he called. ‘The cobra had coiled itself through theblades of the fan. Nasty way to go, even for a snake.’ Looking into the engine, she saw thecobra in two pieces, quite still.

Later that day, in the office of Mr Moretsi’s lawyer, she savoured the satisfaction of unveiling a

fraud and seeing justice done. ‘Some people think,’ she said, ‘that women are soft and can betwisted this way and that. Well, I can tell you that I’m not soft. In fact, I killed a cobra, a bigone, on my way here this afternoon by cutting it in two.’

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Copyright Acknowledgements:

Passage 2 © Alexander McCall Smith; The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency; Abacus; 1998.

Permission to reproduce items where third-party owned material protected by copyright is included has been sought and cleared where possible. Everyreasonable effort has been made by the publisher (UCLES) to trace copyright holders, but if any items requiring clearance have unwittingly been included, thepublisher will be pleased to make amends at the earliest possible opportunity.University of Cambridge International Examinations is part of the Cambridge Assessment Group. Cambridge Assessment is the brand name of University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES), which is itself a department of the University of Cambridge.

© UCLES 2010 1123/21/SI/11

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